The story isn’t that Jonathan Sanchez pitched a no-hitter tonight for the Giants. Or rather, the story isn’t just that Sanchez pitched a no-hitter. There’s more to it than that, including the fact that Sanchez had been pulled from the starting rotation on June 22 after losing four straight and not getting out of the sixth inning for a month. And he wouldn’t have started tonight if Randy Johnson hadn’t hurt his shoulder in Sunday’s game (swinging the bat, of all things), forcing the Giants to give Sanchez another shot.
The starting left fielder tonight was John Bowker, who was just called up from the minors yesterday. Last season he was called up shortly after the season started and had six hits, including two home runs and a triple, in his first three games. He’s been tearing up the Pacific Coast League and earned the promotion, although he has yet to hit in the majors this year.
Bowker was joined in the outfield by Nate Schierholtz, who has been in and out of the starting lineup all season. He’s had hot streaks and cold spells, but tonight he was out until a first-inning injury to right fielder Randy Winn forced Bruce Bochy to make a move. Another player who wasn’t in the original starting lineup is catcher Eli Whiteside, who was called in for emergency duty after Bengie Molina was called to the hospital to be with his wife, who is about to give birth. Whiteside and Sanchez worked beautifully together during the whole game, and he was a big part of the pitcher’s success.
The second inning rally that got the Giants’ offense going started with a triple by Travis Ishikawa, who was hitting cleanup after being near the bottom of the lineup all season. He had earned the cleanup spot after some torrid hitting over the last week, which is quite a change for a guy who’s been regarded mostly as a defensive standout by many fans.
Aaron Rowand had two run-scoring hits in the game, but it was his catch running into the wall in deep centerfield in the top of the ninth that will be remembered as his main contribution to the no-hitter. It might have been the only mistake Sanchez threw in the whole game, and off the bat it was a sure thing home run, until Rowand caught up with it and squeezed it in his glove as he bounced off the wall. Somehow it made Sanchez’s accomplishment that much sweeter, having a great play made behind him at such a crucial moment. It would still have been an out in the first inning, but it wouldn’t have meant as much as it did in the ninth.
It’s been an up and down week for Pablo Sandoval, who has been the object of adulation by millions of fans who voted for him to be in the All-Star game, but has also been rejected, neglected and disrespected by Charlie Manuel, the All-Star manager who should have picked him to be in the game without subjecting him to the Final Vote, and then should have picked him as a replacement for injured Carlos Beltran, but did neither.
I don’t think Sandoval does anything in anger, but he hit one of the longest home runs ever seen at AT&T Park, a three-run shot that put the game out of reach, although it probably didn’t take any pressure off Sanchez. (Still, it’s better to be up 7-0 than 4-0.) He doesn’t have anything to prove, but he did. He proved he’s an all-star, no matter what the voters and Manuel say.
But it was Jonathan Sanchez’s night, and the patience the Giants have shown with him paid off in a big way. He has always had moments when his stuff seemed unhittable, but he’s never been able to stretch it out for more than a few innings (at least not in the majors). Tonight everything was going his way. The hitting and defense helped, but it was a really good night for good pitching.
Comments (2)
A couple more things. This would have been not just a no-hitter but a perfect game, except for an error at third base by Juan Uribe in the eighth inning. He tried to field a hard hit ball on a tricky hop, and while it was a legitimate error, it was also a difficult play. Uribe contributed three hits to the Giants' attack, and he has nothing to fear (I hope) from the fans. Still, the franchise in its 127 years in the National League, has never had a perfect game.
Also, this is the kind of game that a good team uses to lift itself to another level. It's a long season, and baseball is a game of momentum. The Giants got a near no-hitter from Tim Lincecum last night, and they have every reason to feel good about themselves and to have high hopes. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball, but the Giants have the second-best record in the league, better than either of the other two division leaders (including the Phillies, who have five all-stars to the Giants' two). The Giants have had a bunch of games that have shifted momentum in their favor, which is why they find themselves in this position. There's a long way to go, but they have every reason to think they'll be in it until the end of the season.
You know, this is why baseball is such a great game. It's a team sport made up of individual confrontations. Jonathan Sanchez battled Padre hitters 28 times tonight, and he got 27 outs. That's a rare degree of domination, and it makes each succeeding confrontation that much more dramatic than the one before. It energizes the crowd and brings people together. I've never seen a no-hitter in person, but I've been at games like this, where something special is happening, and everybody knows it, and you find strangers high-fiving and hugging each other. It's a beautiful thing to be part of.